Radiation Injuries Following Encounter with Craft — Huffman, Texas

My name is Betty Cash. On the evening of December 29, 1980, I was driving from Dayton to Huffman, Texas on FM 1485 with my friend Vickie Landrum and her grandson Colby, who was seven years old. It was approximately 9 PM. We came around a curve in the road and ahead of us, above the tree line, was an enormous diamond-shaped object. It was the size of a water tower. It was brilliant — brighter than the sun — with flames or hot gas shooting from the bottom. The heat coming from it was intense. I pulled the car over. We all got out. I stood closest to it and watched it for several minutes. The heat was so intense I had to step back toward the car. When I grabbed the car door handle to get back in, the metal was so hot it left marks on my palm. The object moved away slowly, escorted by a large number of military helicopters — I counted 23 at one point, including the large double-rotor type. Within hours Colby's eyes were swollen and red. Vickie had blistering on her face. My symptoms were the worst. By the next day I had blistering across my face, neck and scalp, my hair was falling out in clumps, my eyes had swollen nearly shut, and I was vomiting. I was hospitalized repeatedly in the weeks that followed and was never told an official explanation. The Air Force denied any such exercise took place. I filed a lawsuit. It was dismissed on procedural grounds, not because they disputed the event itself. I believe I received radiation burns from that object. My health never fully recovered.